Footwear, such as shoes and boots, collects dirt and debris from use in the outdoors. The simple door mat is provided at most dwellings to provide an apparatus for cleaning the soles of the shoes being worn by people entering the dwelling. Door mats are not very effective at removing dirt and debris, such as grass, snow, sand, etc., embedded in the treads of such shoes. Door mats eventually get dirty and become less effective in removing dirt. Mechanical devices for cleaning footwear have been developed, but have not proven to be effective in both cleaning and sanitizing the bottom and sides of the shoes or boots being cleaned.
An early example of a mechanical shoe cleaning device can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 732,373, granted to Andrew Preuss on Jun. 30, 1903, which discloses a mechanically driven set of horizontally disposed roller brushes to clean shoes. The weight of the person depresses a frame which causes rotation of the rollers in one direction to scrub against the bottom of the shoe. The return of the frame drives the rollers backwards to also clean the shoe bottom as the shoe is being removed from the frame. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 846,020, granted to Samuel Feld on Mar. 5, 1907, has a set of horizontally disposed rotatable brushes that are powered to scrub the soles of shoes placed thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,952,222, issued to Louis Rostoker on Mar. 27, 1934, teaches a door mat structure in which a plurality of roller brushes is rotatably supported for rotation against the bottom of the shoe. Metal bars with toothed or serrated edges are engagable with the roller brushes to dislodge dirt therefrom to drop into the pan below the brushes. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,895,159, issued to Henry Ostrow on Jul. 21, 1959, a door mat is configured with a series of horizontally disposed rollers that are driven by a crank mechanism to reciprocate laterally in a scrubbing motion to clean the bottom of the shoe. A series of horizontally disposed rollers are also driven by a crank mechanism to effect a scrubbing of the sole of the shoe placed thereon in U.S. Pat. No. 3,802,021 granted on Apr. 9, 1974, to Hans-Joachim Schulz.
A plurality of powered horizontal roller brushes scrubs the bottom of a shoe for cleaning purposes in U.S. Pat. No. 3,849,822 granted to Gerard Ouellette on Nov. 26, 1974. The use of a lower roller engagable with a non-powered rotary brush that removes dirt from the bottoms of shoes is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,867, issued on Nov. 16, 1982, to Sophia Berta, while a liquid-holding tray provides a cleaning fluid for application against the bottom of the shoe during the cleaning operation. The shoe cleaning apparatus in U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,564 issued to Elwyn Fresh on Feb. 16, 1988, utilizes a single rotary brush that is powered in rotation, along with a reciprocating flat brush, to clean the bottom of a shoe.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,805, issued to Willie Oden on Sep. 19, 1989, provides a liquid containing tray in which a sole scrubbing mat is laid to clean and sanitize the shoe sole engaged with the mat. An elaborate roller brush mechanism is powered to rotate against the bottom of the shoe in U.S. Pat. No. 4,922,578, granted on May 8, 1990, to Veli Miettinen. The powered brushes in U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,269, granted to Deryl Openshaw on Sep. 14, 1999, are oriented longitudinally, instead of transversely, to be powered for the scrubbing of the sole of shoes placed thereon.
The shoe cleaning apparatus in U.S. Pat. No. 6,584,636 issued to Jon Schlem on Jul. 1, 2003, combines a pressurized water spray with brushes to clean the bottoms of shoes. U.S. Pat. No. 6,912,752, granted on Jul. 5, 2005, to Luciano Ferrari, utilizes a plurality of brushes for cleaning the bottoms of shoes along with jets of air and jets of disinfecting solution. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,813,795, issued to Judy Graves on Nov. 9, 2004, provides for a removable tray that collects dirt and debris dislodged from the shoes during the cleaning process.
It would be desirable to provide an effective shoe cleaning device that can be manufactured and sold at a cost that can be afforded by the general public, yet is not complicated in operation or construction, while providing superior cleaning effectiveness.